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30/40 Krag to .303 British?
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The Apprentice View Drop Down
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    Posted: December 13 2021 at 12:17pm
Gents:
I have learned that the she!! holder for reloading is the same on a 303 British and 30/40 Krag
I have learned that the go no go gauges are the same for the same two cartridges.
My question is has anyone tried to size up 3040 Craig cases to 303 British can it be done reason why I ask is I’m sitting on a lot of 3040 Craig brass and I wouldn’t mind converting 20 or 40 rounds to 303 British if it’s safe and can be done.
 it seems to me that 303 British brass is kind a hard to find 
Let Alone find loaded ammunition.
Thank you for any in site  
Jeff
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Headspace is the same but the rest of the case is very different. I somehow doubt you could blow out 30-40 to .303 dimensions without splitting it?
This guy seems to have it nailed though.
I'd fer shure anneal it first though.

"30-40 Krag brass for the 303 British I had a few new Krag brass laying on the bench and decided to make some 303 Brit from it, one pass through the Brit neck die and a trim and it was done.
I seated a 174 grain RN bullet over 37 grains of 3031, it fire formed nicely and shot accurately as well.
I have done this in the past and the Krag brass seems to last longer than Brit stuff does for what ever reason.
Some reloaders I have talked to said the Krag brass is thicker at the web, this makes it last longer, along with the rim being possibly a bit thicker too that tightens up the headspace a bit.
I have some older Krag brass that have 5 reloads , the most full house loads I can get out of neck sized 303 brass is 3."
Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Thank you Chaz
I have a friend who shots allot of Wild cat Cartridges and he has a very nice annealing machine however I’ll keep my eye out for some 303 brass and I still got a dig up a set of dies
 I’m gonna try to do some horse trading , I’ve got some spare 30-06 dyes maybe I can get a trade on the CMP forum and then I get lined up for some reloading.
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.30-40 Krag case rims can be thinner than .303, for that reason I would not use them. 
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The Lee Loader,"Whack a Mole" for the 303B is an excellent choice when reloading small batches. Midwayusa and Graf&Sons have PPU 303B brass most of the time.
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ive not checked recently but in the past starline would have brass in stock occasionally , 
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www.grafs.com
They have Hornady 30-40 brass for sale...
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he wants 303 - he says he has a lot of 30-40 , if i understood the post correctly but then i may not have , needless tho as i no longer have any of either to offer 
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Originally posted by A square 10 A square 10 wrote:

he wants 303 - he says he has a lot of 30-40 , if i understood the post correctly but then i may not have , needless tho as i no longer have any of either to offer 

A Square you are spot on Wink
   I have about 200 rounds of 30/40 Krag Virgin brass I was going to try resizing it to 303 and use it .
However after reviewing the above post I will just wait till I can get some brass or loaded ammunition and get a set of dies 
Still to be safer .
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Measure the thickness of the rims on the .30-40 brass.  If it is .060 minimum, I would use it.  You will need a .303 neck sizing die to open up the neck for a .311 bullet.  I recommend the Lee Collet die. You will have to trim the case to 2.222, the .30-40 cases are longer than .303.

As you said, .303 cases are hard to find, I see no safety issue following the advice that Shamu gave. 
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Originally posted by britrifles britrifles wrote:

Measure the thickness of the rims on the .30-40 brass.  If it is .060 minimum, I would use it.  You will need a .303 neck sizing die to open up the neck for a .311 bullet.  I recommend the Lee Collet die. You will have to trim the case to 2.222, the .30-40 cases are longer than .303.

As you said, .303 cases are hard to find, I see no safety issue following the advice that Shamu gave. 



Thank you for the feedback Geoff 
If I get in a pinch I will try it on a few 
Hopefully got a Rcbs die trade for a set of 303 for one of my extra sets of 30/06 let you guys know when I get them.
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It would not hurt to anneal the neck and shoulder first, if you have done this before.  The shoulder position of the .303 is further forward than the .30-40.

Don’t attempt to anneal if you have not done this before until you read up on it, you must not get too much heat into the case body down into the case head, it will permanently weaken the brass and may rupture on firing. 

I should also add that I’ve not verified that all the .30-40 case dimensions are within the .303 case dimensions, I did compare the rim thicknesses, case lengths, body diameter at head, shoulder position and a few others.  It should fit in the .303 chamber, but easy way to tell is to chamber a trimmed down .30-40 case in your .303 rifle and make sure the bolt closes with no pressure on the bolt handle.  Or, run the .30-40 case thru a .303 full length sizing die first. 
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reloaddepot.com has 303B brass for sale right now. Its not cheap but, if you need it, they have it, for the time being...
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PM me please.
I have 110, once fired 303 brass and 110 Sierra HPBT  .311" 174grn bullets.
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Originally posted by Shamu Shamu wrote:

Headspace is the same but the rest of the case is very different. I somehow doubt you could blow out 30-40 to .303 dimensions without splitting it?
This guy seems to have it nailed though.
I'd fer shure anneal it first though.

"30-40 Krag brass for the 303 British I had a few new Krag brass laying on the bench and decided to make some 303 Brit from it, one pass through the Brit neck die and a trim and it was done.
I seated a 174 grain RN bullet over 37 grains of 3031, it fire formed nicely and shot accurately as well.
I have done this in the past and the Krag brass seems to last longer than Brit stuff does for what ever reason.
Some reloaders I have talked to said the Krag brass is thicker at the web, this makes it last longer, along with the rim being possibly a bit thicker too that tightens up the headspace a bit.
I have some older Krag brass that have 5 reloads , the most full house loads I can get out of neck sized 303 brass is 3."

That was me who resized the Krag brass to 303, I still have a bunch that were fire formed and they are on the third neck size  reload and still going. 
I have a No4Mk1 Longbranch coming in the mail and these will be used for that rifle.
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Alright!
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